Marley Peace Concert

Rip It Up, Issue 12, 1 June 1978, Page 3

Marley Peace Concert

“Imagine Mr Callaghan and Mrs Thatcher emotionally shaking hands with each other and with Johnny Rotten on stage at a rock charity concert organised by the Kray brothers.” That’s the comparison one British newspaper made when describing Jamaica’s One Love Peace Concert, when Bob Marley, at the climax of the nine hour show, brought on Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Michael Manley, and opposition leader, Edward Seaga, and clasped their hands over his head. The two leaders then embraced Bucky Marshall and Claude Massop, the notorious top ghetto gunmen for the two political parties. The concert had been organised by the Peace Movement to celebrate the ending of the politically motivated war which had waged for a number of years in Kingston’s ghettoes. The show also marked the 12th Anniversary of the visit of Haile Selassie to Jamaica. The former gunmen organised the concert to raise money to improve ghetto conditions and 28,000 people paid to witness the event in which 18 top reggae acts appeared, including The Mighty Diamonds, Big Youth and Peter Tosh as well as Bob Marley and. the Wailers. It was Marley’s first appearance in Jamaica since the attempt on his life in Kingston in December 1976 and a triumphant return it was. And although the show of onstage solidarity was undoubtedly more symbolic than real, it’s still a tribute

to the high regard in which Marley is held as spiritual leader and musician. Trouble has, however, dogged Marley’s prospective tours. His American tour was suspended indefinitely after Wailers’ guitarist, Junior Marvin, was refused a visa because of a previous drug offence involving cocaine. However, the US Immigration Department relented and granted Marvin a visa and the concerts were swiftly rescheduled. Similarly, Marley’s tour of South East Asia, taking in Japan, Australia and New Zeland, was postponed when Marley refused to play Japan as part of a personal protest against Japanese fishermen’s netting of dolphins. Dates are now being renegotiated and an appearance by Marley in New Zealand later this year is still a possibility.